Van Gogh, Picasso Works Stolen in U.K.

Paintings by Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and Paul Gauguin have been stolen from an art gallery in northern England, police said Sunday.

Staff at Manchester's Whitworth Art Gallery contacted police at noon as they prepared to open for the day.

"This was a well-planned theft and we have launched a major inquiry," Greater Manchester Police said in a statement.

Police named the works as Van Gogh's "The Fortifications of Paris with Houses," painted in 1878; Picasso's "Poverty," painted in 1903; and Gauguin's "Tahitian Landscape," painted between 1891 and 1893.

Police declined to provide details of their value. Gallery officials were not immediately available for comment.